Bake or Breaks' Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

. To kick off my membership on the world wide baking web, last night I decided to test out a recipe posted by one of my fellow bloggers.  Let me tell you, searching for that special treat got a little time consuming!  Have you had the chance to look at ANY of the blogs I follow (located at the kind of bottom right of my site)?!  Wow.  Each blog is filled with fabulous recipes accompanied by RIDICULOUS photos.  Seriously jealous.  I need a new camera.  And some photography lessons.  But that's far from the point.

When I began creating my blog, I stumbled across a site filled with to-die-for pictures of their baked goodies.  The pictures alone stuck in my mind and I found myself continually going back to this blog to search through all of their recipes.  What site is this, you ask?  Okay, I'll tell you.

Bake or Break.  Sounds a little tough but take one look at this site and you'll understand what I'm talking about.  The most recent recipe they've posted is for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake, and basically the second I laid my eyes on the photo, I knew it needed to be baking in my oven ASAP (in other words, it was love at first sight!).

The recipe begins by combining the butter, oatmeal and boiling water.  Now, I've used oatmeal in other recipes before but I have NEVER actually cooked the oatmeal before it hit the pan.  But I must say that this technique intrigued me.  It made the oatmeal much softer (shocking, I know!) and really brought out that oatty (is this a word...?) flavor.  The cake itself is extraordinarily moist with a fabulous hint of cinnamon and studded with rich chocolate chips.  And what's a cake without frosting?  A cream cheese frosting, at that!  Yes, to take this cake above and beyond, a rich layer of cream cheese frosting is slathered across the top.

I know, I know, give you the recipe already!  So here it is.  You can thank me later. .

Bake or Breaks' Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:

Cake: 

1-1/4 c. boiling water

1 c. old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 c. unsalted butter, cubed

2 eggs

3/4 c. sugar

1-1/4 c. packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1-1/2 c. all purpose flour

8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting:

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

5-1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  Butter sides and bottom of 13x9-inch pan.

2.  Place oats and butter in small bowl.  Heat water to boiling.  Pour boiling water over oat mixture.  Wait 30 seconds, then stir to moisten oats and melt butter.  Set aside 25 to 30 minutes.

3.  Heat oven to 375°F.  Whisk eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking power, and cinnamon.  Fold in oatmeal, stirring until well combined.  Fold in flour, and then stir in chocolate chips.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

4.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack 30 minutes.

5.  For frosting, beat butter until smooth.  Add cream cheese and beat until combined.  Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth (about 1 minute).  Cover bowl and refrigerate 1 hour.

6.  Spread frosting over cake.  Chill 15 minutes before serving.

Yield: 24 cake pieces

*My Notes:

• Since one of the main components of this recipe are the chocolate chips, I recommend using the best (or better) quality of chocolate chips you can.  I used Guittard Semisweet Chocolate Chips, which you can find at most grocery stores.  A 12 oz. bag cost me $2.89, but the few extra cents will be worth it and you'll have some leftover to snack on :)  The quality of your final treat will only be as good as the ingredients you put in it!   
• Let the cake cool completely before frosting, otherwise the cake will be too soft and will break off.  How do I know this?  Yeah, my impatience got to me :)